It sometimes creeps up very slowly, with little or no warning like a thief in the night, stealing the son or daughter that just yesterday was happy-go-lucky, accomplished and loving. Sometimes it hits like a ton of bricks with a phone call from the school, the police or worse yet the hospital. No matter how it has entered your family, adolescent substance abuse is something we often think about in terms of other people’s children, but not our own. If this is happening in your family, know that you are not alone. Almost every teen today knows someone who has died as a result of using alcohol/drugs or been involved in a fatal car accident attributed to alcohol or drugs.